Yarn threading process



May 30, 1957 1 HORVATH ETAL YARN THREADING PROCESS Filed Oct. l2, 1964 INVENTORS United States Patent O 3,321,904 YARN THREADING PROCESS Ludwig Horvath and Manfred Kress, Wattwil, Switzerland, assignors to Heberlein Patent Corporation, New York, NX., a corporation of New York Filed Oct. 12, 1964, Ser. No. 403,286 Claims priority, application Switzerland, Nov. 26, 1963, 14,477/ 63 7 Claims. (Cl. 57-157) This invention relates to a process for the treatment of textile yarns, and more particularly, to such process for the threading of textile yarns through yarn crimping apparatus.

In the art, processes for the crimping of thermoplastic textile yarns are already known according to which two or more yarns delivered from a source are twisted together along a certain distance, are subjected to fixation as by heat, for example, while in twisted condition, and are then separated as by being pulled apart at the same speed in different directions. In such cases, the twisting together of the yarns may take place by giving them the required number of turns per meter, by means such as motor driven twisting apparatus. The ends of the yarns are then drawn into the crimping apparatus and are then conducted to winding apparatus through thread carrying and guiding devices.

However, the known methods of introducing the yarns into the treating apparatus has considerable disadvantages. Thus, apparatus for the performance of the crimping process have a rather large number of working areas positioned in close proximity and with a common power source. If, during operations, thread breakage occurs at any one working point, a stoppage of the entire apparatus is necessitated thus leading to uneconomical overall operation. Another important difliculty resides in the fact that the yarn being treated must not remain in the fixing units for more than a predetermined period of time. Thus, when breakage occurs and the apparatus comes to a stop, yarn in the fixing unit is usually lost. For example, if fixation is effected by heat, and the yarn being treated is of the thermoplastic type, fixation will take place at betwen 200 and 250 C. or more and when breakage occurs this temperature must be sharply reduced otherwise destruction of the yarn will occur within a short time.

A further difliculty encountered in such systems is the fact that when the yarns are twisted together according to the known methods, and particularly in cases where they are required to have a high number of turns per meter, it becomes extremely difcult to separate the ends of the yarns, even by hand.

Accordingly, we have conceived by our invention a process which overcomes the foregoing difficulties and disadvantages and which thus improves the crimping of textile yarns, particularly from an economic standpoint.

In essence, our invention resides in a process for the threading of two or more yarns through yarn crimping apparatus according to which at least two yarn segments are twisted together a selected number of turns, are then wound on a member, preferably cylindrical incontour, -are attached at their ends to the yarns to be treated, and are then drawn off over the end of the cylindrical member and into the crimping apparatus. The invention is particularly adapted to the treatment of thermoplastic textile yarns and, as already indicated, is useful in connection with crimping by twisting the yarns together along a given distance, xing the yarns thus twisted and then separating them.

As a feature of our invention, we contribute a process for the threading of yarns into .a crimping apparatus by plying or twisting the yarns together along a predetermined distance, fixing the yarns thus twisted as by heat 3,321,904 Patented May 30, 1967 fixation and subsequently separating the yarns. Actually, the number of twisting turns may be determined by dividing the number of windings of the yarn segments on the cylindrical member by the given distance along which it is desired that the yarns to be treated shall be plied.

There has thus been outlined rather broadly the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject of the claims appended hereto. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based ma yreadily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures for carrying out the several purposes of the invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent construction as do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention.

A specific embodiment of the invention has been chosen for purposes of illustration Iand description, and is shown in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the specification wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of the parts of a crimping apparatus embodying our present concept and in inoperative condition; and

FIG. 2 is a schematic view similar to FIG. 1 but illustrating the apparatus in operative condition.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIG. 1 thereof, there is shown a pair of spools 1 and 2 for supplying yarns 3 and 4, respectively through thread carriers 5 and 6. Actually, the introduction of the yarn is effected by means of yarn segments 3 and 4 which are doubled or plied together by means of a coning machine (not shown) and are wound up on a cylindrical tube 7 approaching the tube substantially at to the plane of the axis thereof. The trailing ends of the yarn segments 3 and 4 are tied to the leading ends of the yarns 3 and 4, respectively, the knots being represented by reference numbers 10 and 11. At this point, it is well to note that we prefer to use cylindrical tubes with a diameter of between 1.5 and 3 centimeters and yarn segments with a length of the order of 500 to 1000 meters. However, if desired, instead of a tube, the yarn segments may also be wound up on a rod or other cylindrical body with a diameter of the yorder of 0.5 to 1 centimeter `whereby the length of the yarn segments may be reduced to about 50 meters. Likewise, tubes or other cylindrical members with larger diameters up to about 4 centimeters for example, may be used in which case correspondingly larger segment lengths up to about 2000 meters can also be employed. lf the two yarns 3 and 4 are to be plied together along a distance of five meters with 2000 turns per meter, then it will be a'ppreciated that the two raw yarns segments 3' and 4 must receive 10,000 turns. For example, if the tube 7 has a diameter of 2 centimeters, then the length of the yarn segments will be about 628 meters.

As stated, the yarn segments 3 and 4 are drawn off over the top of the tube 7, pass staggered thread guides 12, 14 and 15, thence `between rollers 16 and 17 serving as a yarn feeding device and over a movable roller 19 and down to a separation point 20 where the free ends of the yarn segments are drawn apart. As shown in FIG. 2, when the yarn segments 3 and 4 are drawn completely off the cylindrical tube 7, the yarns 3 and 4 to lbe treated pass directly from the spools 1 and 2 through the yguide means 5 and 6 to the staggered rollers 12, 14 and 15 and thence on in to the treating apparatus. Since the yarn segments 3 and 4 are twisted together with, at most, 20 turns per meter, and preferably with about 10 turns per meter, their ends can be readily separated manually during threading. The separated ends are then conducted through yarn takeup apparatus (not shown), such as a pair of rollers, to suitable known winding apparatus.

Once threaded, operation of the crimping apparatus is commenced and as the apparatus comes up to operational speed, the turns in the yarn to be treated start to arrive at the separation point 20. Thereby, the desired number of turns per meter is obtained along the distance Within which the yarns are twisted together after the passage of the yarn segments 3' and 4'.

The xation apparatus, according to that illustrated in the present case, is a heating apparatus 21 and consists of a cylindrical canal 22 extending vertically, and in which the air is heated by means of a suitable electrical coil of resistan-ce wire (not shown). At the upper end of the canal 22 is located any suitable means by which the movable roller 19 may, as desired, be fixed in position shown either in FIG. 1 or in FIG. 2. In threading the yarn segments 3 and 4', the movable roller 19 is lowered to the position shown in FIG. 1 beneath the canal 22, so that the yarn segments do not pass through the canal and hence are not damaged by the high heat prevailing there. As soon as the crimping apparatus is running at operational speed, the movable roller 19 is transferred to the position illustrated in FIG. 2 so that the yarns 3 and 4 pass beneath the guide roller 24 and through the canal 22. At the upper end of the canal, the yarns are turned 180 degrees by means of roller 19 and are then carried back down to the separation point 20.

It will be appreciated that as a rule, the yarns 3 and 4 will be temporarily twisted in S and Z direction so that in such cases it will be necesary to wind the tube '7 with yarn segments such that when they are drawn oil they, too, will be plied in the S or Z direction, respectively.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that We contribute to the art a process for the treatment of textile yarns according to which yarn segments are iirst wound around the cylindrical body, are led through the treating apparatus and are attached to the leading ends of the yarns to be treated; and as the apparatus comes up to operational speed the yarn segments are drawn oi over the end ofthe cylindrical member and in turn draw the yarns to be treated through the treating apparatus. We also contribute means whereby when the treatment includes iiXation, the yarns are remo-ved from the fixing apparatus when same is not in operation and are only passed through such apparatus during operation.

We believe that the operation o our novel process for the treating of textile yarns will now be understood and that the advantages of our invention will be fully appreciated by those persons skilled in the art.

We now claim:

1. Process for threading two or more yarns through yarn crimping apparatus comprising, twisting together at least two yarn segments a selected number of turns, winding such segments on a cylindrical member, attaching the yarns to be treated to the ends of the yarn segments and drawing the yarn segments off over the end of the cylindrical member and into the crimping apparatus.

2. Process for threading two or more yarns through yarn crimping apparatus by twisting them together along a given distance, xing the yarns thus twisted and then separating them comprising, twisting together at least two yarn segments a selected number of turns, winding such segments on a cylindrical member, attaching the yarns to be treated to the ends of the yarn segments and drawing the yarn segments ott over the end of the cylindrical member and into the crimping apparatus.

3. Process for threading two or more yarns through yarn crimping apparatus by twisting them together along a given distance, iixing the yarns thus twisted and then separating them comprising, twisting together at least two yarn segments a selected number of turns, winding such segments on a cylindrical member, the number of twisting turns being determined by the number of windings of the yarn segments on the cylindrical member divided by the given distance, attaching the yarns to be treated to the ends of the yarn segments and drawing the yarn segments olf over the end of the cylindrical member and into the crimping apparatus.

4. Process according to claim 1, further characterized in that the yarn segments are twisted together with not more than 20 turns per meter.

5. Process for threading two or more yarns through y-arn crimping apparatus by twisting them together along a given distance, fixing the yarns thus twisted and then separating them comprising, twisting together at least two yarn segments of a length of the order of 50 to 2000 meters a selected number of turns, winding such segments on a cylindrical member having a diameter of the order of 0.5 to 4 centimeters, attaching the yarns to be treated to the ends of the yarn segments and drawing the yarn segments off over the end of said member and into the crimping apparatus.

6. Process for threading two or more yarns through yarn crimping apparatus by twisting them together along a given distance, fixing the yarns thus twisted and then separating them comprising, twisting together at least two yarn segments of a length of the order of 500 to 1000 meters a selected number of turns, winding such segments on a cylindrical member having a diameter of the order of 1.5 to 3 centimeters, attaching the yarns to be treated to the ends of the yarn segments and drawing the yarn segments off over the end of said member and into the crimping apparatus.

7. Process according to claim 1, further characterized in that the yarn segments are passed over a movable member located during threading outside of a fixation unit and is moved into such unit after attainment of operational speed.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,881,504 4/1959 Billion 28--72 2,963,848 12/1960 Finlayson et al. 57--157 X 2,987,869 6/1961 Klein 57--34 3,050,819 8/1961 Allman et al 57--34 X 3,067,563 12/1962 Van Dijk 57-34 3,091,908 6/1963 Carruthers 57-34 FRANK J. COHEN, Primary Examiner.

D. E. WATKINS, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A PROCESS FOR THREADING TWO OR MORE YARNS THROUGH YARN CRIMPING APPARATUS COMPRISING, TWISTING TOGETHER AT LEAST TWO YARN SEGMENTS A SELECTED NUMBER O FTURNS, WINDING SUCH SEGMENTS ON A CYLINDRICAL MEMBER, ATTACHING THE YARNS TO BE TREATED TO THE ENDS OF THE YARNSEGMENTS AND DRAWING THE YARN SEGMENTS OFF OVER THE END OF THE CYLINDRICAL MEMBER AND INTO THE CRIMPING APPARATUS. 